


(He's the) Shape of Love

by Blue_Ginkgo



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28595880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Ginkgo/pseuds/Blue_Ginkgo
Summary: What's the worst that can happen on a very busy day? Getting caught in a rainstorm and stuck in a coffeeshop full of people.But John Laurens enters the room.Inspired by Passenger's song "Shape of Love"
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	(He's the) Shape of Love

“Damnit!”

The sudden downpour in New York City may have surprised many people on that Wednesday afternoon, but in all probability, nobody was quite as pissed as Alexander Hamilton.

The young man, who managed to look scrappy even in the smart business suits he wore every day, had just stumbled blindly in the first coffee shop he had been able to find, and was now waiting in the checkout line, assessing the consequences of the freezing rain on his body. The intolerable feeling of fabric plastered against his skin and the irritating way cold droplets kept falling from his short ponytail on his neck were barely mitigated by the thought that the other customers populating the room looked more or less in the same condition.

He glanced back at the street discovering, predictably, that the amount of rain falling down at the moment was just as much as two minutes before, if not more. Alexander hated to be interrupted while working and this forced break was doing just that, disrupting his carefully organized schedule for the day. _Why of all days_ , he thought angrily while collecting his cup and heading to the long, wooden community tables, _this fucking cloudburst has to happen today?_ Normally at this hour he would be at his desk, typing furiously his newest article, or maybe in a meeting, taking the opportunity to show off his excellent debating skills. But today he had to interview a couple of people after lunch, to pursue the promising lead that his team hoped would shed some light on the mess of lobbyists’ connections to the public administration they were working on for months. So, from the New York Times Building he went all the way up to Harlem, hoping to be back in the office by 4 p.m. tops. Well, that sounded very unlikely now.

He put his drink down on an empty place and sat down, already loathing the loud chatting of the teenage girls sitting to his right. Absentmindedly, he checked a pocket of his jacket to retrieve his phone, only to find a completely soaked packet of cigarettes. “Oh for fuck’s – “

Alexander chocked on his swearing as his gaze was drawn to the entrance of the coffee shop. A guy just walked into the room, tall figure and dripping clothes, still panting from what must have been a crazy run to reach the place. He clearly just came in to get out of the rain, like everybody else, but unlike them he didn’t seem irritated at the situation, but rather pleased to be there and reinvigorated from the run and the unexpected turn of his day.

His attitude immediately caught Alex’s normally fleeting attention, and the young journalist couldn’t help but follow the guy’s movements as he ordered a coffee and chatted amicably with the girl behind the bar. _They clearly know each other,_ Alex thought. He couldn’t make out their words, but their conversation sounded cheery and easy.

“You did _not_!” exclaimed playfully the girl, mockingly punching the guy’s bicep, and he answered with a rich and slightly embarrassed laughter.

That sound took Alex by surprise as he felt the corner of his lips tugging up against his will, suddenly conscious that _that_ was probably his first smile since he woke up that morning. Then again, what reason did he have to smile today? For weeks he had been completely focused on his work, his mind running a mile a minute night and day, constantly revising the case he was looking into. He _loved_ being a journalist in economic and politics, investigative reporting was what he was born to do, and he did it better that anyone else (no use being modest, the was incredible at what he did and he owned it). So yes, his work fueled him with passion and motivation, but admittedly didn’t give him many reasons for light-hearted smiles. And the fact that his best friends were colleagues and workaholics like him didn’t exactly help.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn’t notice that the newcomer was now walking towards the tables, cup of coffee in his left hand and some sort of bag carefully wrapped in a denim jacket and held tight against his hip with his right arm. He quickly lowered his gaze but discretely kept watching as the guy walked past him to settle in a free spot just a few meters away at the opposite table, facing Alex’s way. _At least the universe decided to make it up to me today giving me eye-candy_ , mused Alex as he admired the stranger’s lean body, the muscles of his arms highlighted by his wet maroon t-shirt, his light-caramel skin, the strong line of his jaw. _Come on, Hamilton, this is not a club, you can’t just ogle people like that. Besides…_ Alex was quite good at reading people; he could deduce bits and pieces of their life and even their mental state observing their appearance and body language. And he didn’t miss the way the handsome stranger had made his way among other customers with a tinge of self-consciousness in his movements. He probably didn’t like being at the center of attention, not even in a relatively relaxed environment like that. Alex hoped he hadn’t contributed to make him feel uncomfortable.

_Ok, I’m stuck here, so let’s at least be productive._ Shaking his head as if to physically change his train of thoughts, Alex took off his jacket to hung it to the back of his chair, rolled up his sleeves and retrieved his laptop. He turned it on, forcing himself not to look up to the table in front of him. Luckily, a woman just sat in front of the guy, her back to Alex, partially blocking the line of sight. The journalist quickly texted his coworker Angelica to let her know that he wouldn’t be back at the office until later in the evening, since the heavy rain had practically turned into a storm.

Alex worked quietly for a few minutes, getting started on some editing stuff he had put off for long enough. Pausing for a moment to reflect on how to rephrase a particular concept in his article, he finally picked up his steaming cup of tea _. Fuck you, Aaron, for forcing me into this ridiculous limited-number-of-coffee regimen._ His annoying friend had made him promise to stick to a maximum of five coffee a day, after a memorable afternoon at the office a few weeks earlier when Alex (who had reached his tenth coffee of the day by then) lashed out to a poor innocent intern and then abruptly had to sat on the floor, experiencing tachycardia. _Ok, maybe Aaron’s got a point,_ _but that doesn’t mean I have to like this_ , argued Alex in his mind, glowering at his cup.

Looking up as he stirred his tea, Alex’s glance was caught once again by the guy, who was shivering in his rain-sodden tee. He had clearly used his jacket to cover his canvas backpack and keep it from getting completely soaked. He was now emptying the content of his bag and putting a few objects in front of him, checking the state of his headphones and of a couple of books and sketchpads. Apparently reassured that nothing had been damaged by the rain, he began extricating his hair tie from his low bun, hissing as he accidentally pulled at some knots. The lady sitting in front of him moved to a quieter spot in the corner, and Alex could get a much better view of the guy’s face. _Freckles. Cute._ He was combing his damp locks with his fingers, now, with a concentrated expression, hair barely brushing on his shoulders and partially curling up now that it was getting drier from the heating of the place. _More than cute._

Alex was aware that he was kind of transfixed by now but couldn’t stop staring. _That face, though, I think I know it._ The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that he had seen that guy before. He was probably the same age as Alex, so maybe they had crossed paths at uni. _Too bad that I don’t know his name…_ As if on cue, the guy took a sip of his coffee and put the cup back on the table. A black scribble was now visible on the paper cup. Squinting a bit, Alex managed to read it. John _._ As he mouthed the name, his eyes trailed back to the guy’s face, only to find _John_ catching his stare.

He immediately looked away, feeling his face horribly flush. _God, I’m an idiot._ Trying to collect himself, he resumed his work and forced himself to focus, with little result. _I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I was just people-watching. That’s what everybody does in places like this, right?_ He silently reasoned. _Yeah, if by ‘people’ you just mean one beautiful guy… Stop acting like a creep and get to WORK!_

His editing was completed in less than thirty minutes and the article quickly emailed to Alex’s boss. With a satisfied sigh, Alex sat back and started checking notifications on his phone. He discovered that the meeting at 5 p.m. had been cancelled, apparently he wasn’t the only staff member unable to make it back to the office on time. Never mind, he would quickly call Angelica and Aaron later in the evening to discuss some new information he got from the interviews and review the whole situation. This was their second big case together; they discovered they made quite a team the previous year when they managed to uncover some bribery cases involving a major political party. Alex and Aaron had been roommates at uni, two intelligent and ambitious young men with the habit of getting on each other nerves. When they found themselves both in the ranks of Mr. Washington, senior editor for politics at the Times, a few months after graduation, they learned to actually join forces and became friends. They were soon rejoined by Angelica Schuyler, who was even sharper and motivated than them.

Thinking back to his days as a student, Alex sometimes regretted his approach to other people back then. He was very active and outspoken, involved in a lot of initiatives and stuff, and he got to meet lots of other students, but he barely had the time to properly get to know people outside his small, trusted circle of friends. He had been friendly with many, rarely spending his time alone, but now, a couple of years later, Alex realized that he used to consider people only according to what they could do for him or for the causes he was devoting himself to _. If I had taken the time to actually look around me, I would had probably noticed him…_ Alex was pretty sure, thinking of it, that he had shared a couple of classes with the guy, John. He had been one of those kids sitting at the back of the classroom, with a disinterest expression to him. _Why was he so indifferent in class? Like he was forced to be there…_ wondered Alex, as he noticed the contrast of that memory with the inspired and relaxed look on John’s face right now.

Head gently moving to the beat of the wordless hip-hop music playing in the background, the guy was focused on the sketchbook and pencil in his hands, as he wrote, no, draw something. The movements of his left hand on the page were sure and quick, while his right was propping up the sketchpad. _I like his hands,_ casually observed Alex, who by now had decided to just indulge his curiosity. He was picking up a few more details about John, some of them interesting and some just trivial. A string a small, black words was visible on the guy’s right bicep, half-hidden by the sleeve of his t-shirt, while another tattoo was positioned on his right wrist. _A semicolon, maybe?_ His left wrist was covered with black and brown bracelets, simple leather straps and wooden beads. Alex couldn’t stop a grin at the sight of a thin rainbow wristband.

Their eyes met again, but this time Alex chose to shoot him a quick smile before averting his eyes a moment too late. He was rewarded with blushing cheeks and a sheepish smile of John’s own.

Alex’s gaze went back to the screen of his laptop, without actually seeing any of the words that crowed it, without giving a damn when it automatically turned off for lack of use. He sighed as he felt a weird mix of emotions welling up in his chest. Excitement, curiosity, attraction, self-consciousness, even a touch of embarrassment. But more than anything, he was feeling content. It wasn’t just the presence of that gorgeous guy – who just graced him with the most endearing, lovely smile ever – it was the atmosphere of the place, the quiet music, the smell of coffee and sugar, the relaxing light that permeated the room, making it feel like a shelter from the cold. _I don’t ever want the rain to stop._

It was almost peace, what he was experiencing here and now, despite the storm outside or maybe _just because of it_ ; a curtain of water separating him from the outside world, from his hectic routine, his personal checklist of goals to achieve, the overwhelming need to impress people, be quicker, be smarter, be _more_. _I don’t wanna leave this place. I don’t wanna leave this feeling behind._ Here he wasn’t Alexander Hamilton. He was just a guy in a damp white shirt, and that was somehow liberating.

The shape of John, still happily working at his sketch and surrounded by the warm light of the vintage lamps hanging from the ceiling, stood out among the people around him, most of them looking down at their phones with bored expressions. Alex took in the scene as if he was looking at a painting, relishing it and committing it to memory. _He… this feels like finding something I didn’t even know I was looking for. A missing piece of the puzzle. It fits my heart._

The sudden buzzing of his phone on the table startled Alex, bringing him back to earth and breaking the moment. He jumped on his seat and hastily reached for his phone, accidentally knocking down his cup in the process and spilling the remaining tea.

“Dude, c’mon…” groaned the teenager sitting a couple of seats away, rolling her eyes.

“Shit! Shit, I’m sorry, uhm…” Alex quickly checked his phone and put it down again – it was work, but nobody important – then grabbed a few napkins and started mopping up the cold tea from the table and the floor. Muttering to himself, he made sure he had fixed the worst of it, then stood up to go throw away the wet paper towels. _Of course I can’t even have ten minutes of peace, of course I have to make a fool of myself, and –_

“Ah!” He flinched as a loud thunder took him by surprise. Trembling slightly, Alex sat back down and closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on his breathing. He _hated_ thunders, with all his heart.

Glancing back at John’s table, he realized that the guy was gone. _I can’t believe I missed him._ Alex tried to keep the disappointment at bay. What was he planning to do, anyway? _Go introduce myself? Offer him a drink?_ He was pretty accustomed to approaching strangers at bars, but the situation here was different, he wasn't just a random guy… _He was a fucking ray of sunshine in his own bubble of peace, he wouldn’t want anything to do with a walking mess like me, he –_

“Hey! Uh, sorry to bother you…”

Alex turned around, and there he was. John was looking at him with a tentative, hopeful look, holding two steaming cups. _Wow_.

“I was thinking… Would you like a coffee, and a chat, maybe?”

Alex took in the sight of the glowing beam on John’s face as he accepted right away, and readily made a flirty quip as he took the cup from John’s hand, eliciting that warm laughter from the guy. He felt a rush of joy in his veins. _I don’t care if the sun never shines again. I don’t need it._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you sooo much for reading! <3  
> Hope you liked it :)


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